When do you begin your Winter preparations?

[BillsBayou]

Here in New Orleans, we don't get much snow (once every 5 or so years). Still, we do drop below freezing enough that our tropicals will not survive without warm storage. I estimate the third week of November as the first week where we see lows in the mid-thirties. Thus, I'll begin building my greenhouse this weekend. The last one was a kit from Harbor Freight which lasted about 2 months before imploding in a pile of scrap metal and cheap plastic. The next one will be made of sturdier materials.

When do you begin your Winter prep? For what species?

[lewisjk]

I'm working on it now. We moved here 5 years ago from the warm end of Zone 8 to the borderline of zones 7 and 8 (I joke that my front yard (north side) is zone 7 and my back yard is zone 8, and that's not far wrong, considering the redrawn USDA map). I'm still working on how much winter care I need to give. Below is my small Podocarpus last winter. It did fine.

I've brought my two willow-leaf ficus indoors already, though it has warmed up since I did but I don't care to move things back and forth. I also brought in an ailing Bougainvillea which I'm fairly sure won't make it through the winter -- in OR out.

Beyond that, my winter care consists of merely moving some trees into a sheltered spot -- which is what I'm working on.

[clrosner]

Hi Bill and Jim:
Back in September, I moved all my tropical trees in doors, and Mother Nature played a trick on us Southern New Jersey residents, since we have had wonderful weather even today the temps reached 70!

The few trees that are not tropical are still out on my deck, since I never consider putting them in the ground or in the garage until we have had several nights of below freezing temperatures.

Most of my trees are tropical so during this warm weather, I just keep the tree house door open, turn off the heater and humidifier, since I like keeping my Tree House at a comfortable 70 to 80 degrees. The night temperatures drop into the 40's and we have not had one night temperature in the 30's as yet. If this isn't a sign of global warming????

Happy growing

[lewisjk]

Hi Carl. Nice to see you again and glad you posted here. Too few do.

Yeah, I brought my tropicals (both of them <g>) in too early, too. They're NOT happy indoors.

[clrosner]

Good afternoon Jim:
I am not quite happy with the new forum, since without an immediate Email, I tend to go on to other things, like tending to my Tropical trees (about 40 of them), teaching and, of course reading....

I received an Email from someone, who said they couldn't get on the new ABS. He wrote to the president who pushed him off onto the web master. Obviously he had no luck, and so wrote me, since I had helped him in the past via the "old" ABS. I logged on, and then Emailed this person back giving him the URL. So far I haven't heard back from him...?????????

[MatsuBonsai]

Good afternoon Jim:
I am not quite happy with the new forum, since without an immediate Email, I tend to go on to other things, like tending to my Tropical trees (about 40 of them), teaching and, of course reading....

I received an Email from someone, who said they couldn't get on the new ABS. He wrote to the president who pushed him off onto the web master. Obviously he had no luck, and so wrote me, since I had helped him in the past via the "old" ABS. I logged on, and then Emailed this person back giving him the URL. So far I haven't heard back from him...?????????

Hi Carl,

This online forum is a bit different than the old email group. However, it is possible to receive email updates to specific forums or topics, Subscribe via Email.

Also, since the site and forum do require a valid login (and a valid email address with which to supply credentials) we have only been able to grant access to those for which we have a valid email address. We're trying to be proactive and reach out to those that we do not have information for by contacting via phone and/or snail mail.

In the mean time, the easiest way for someone without access to gain access is to use the Contact the Webmaster form. The latest such person to use the form, though hasn't posted, has been able to successfully login.

If you or others have specific feedback I would encourage you to post in either ABS Feedback and/or Forum Feedback. We hope that you and others will continue to contribute and provide feedback so that we can continue to improve the forum and the ABS site overall.

[lewisjk]

There's opportunity here. This could become the main North American forum. The old IBC is still around, but its focus has pretty much shifted to Europe and the Southern Hemisphere, though there still are a few of us old timers there.

[marina.sanmim]

This isn't quite on topic... perhaps you guys could make another thread for this... (no offense meant)

[shipsquartersfarm]

I bring my buttonwoods inside when the night temperatures go below 50. The rest of my tropicals stay out until the lows are in the low 40's. I live in Maryland. Most temperate trees go into an unheated barn around Thanksgiving. Some (read: especially heavy trees or those that seem particularly unlikely to ever look like anything) stay outside. They seem to do okay, too.